Police can intensify the fight against crime with private sector expertise September 26, 2013 THE ECONOMIC crisis has had a lasting effect on London. Much has been negative. But less well-known is that, with the government determined to cut the deficit, the public and private sectors are increasingly finding common ground, by working together in unique and integrated new ways. London’s police force is a case in point. I [...]
Letters to the Editor – 27/09 – Lessons from Italy, Labour on housing, Best of Twitter September 26, 2013 Lessons from Italy [Re: Lessons from Italy: What happens when businesses are forced to move abroad, yesterday] The same piece could have be written about France. Unfortunately, both France and Italy’s political elites – who are trained as civil service administrators and possess no business experience – are unlikely to heed the warnings. Pierrick Moreaux [...]
We can bring down UK energy costs without Miliband’s populist price fix September 25, 2013 WELL, no one can say we don’t know what Ed Miliband stands for any more. Whacking business with higher taxes, strangling them with regulation, expropriating land from owners who don’t develop, and reversing benefit cuts. The list of Wonga policies – superficially attractive in the short term, punitively expensive in the long term – was [...]
Lessons from Italy: What happens when businesses are forced to move abroad September 25, 2013 THE 42 employees of Firem, an Italian heating systems maker, returned from their August holidays to find the plant where they worked had relocated to Poland. Firem is not the only recent Italian escape act. Italy’s entrepreneurs, facing the second-to-worst business climate in the developed word, on World Bank figures, are leaving. And union power [...]
Freedom and liberty: The dangerous words our politicians ignore September 25, 2013 TWO words have dropped from the political lexicon. In fact, Nick Clegg and Vince Cable, Ed Balls and Ed Miliband appear to find them dangerous. For in their conference speeches, these words weren’t mentioned at all (bar a passing reference from Clegg). Yet the same words were central to many of the great political speeches, [...]
Letters to the Editor – 26/09 – Energy price fix, Inflation target, Best of Twitter September 25, 2013 Energy price fix [Re: Miliband’s lurch to left is a recipe for disaster, yesterday] Labour claims that it wishes to promote a more competitive energy industry by breaking up the largest firms. Of course the irony is that the plan to freeze energy prices will likely result in a far less competitive market. Centrica has [...]
How Labour can deliver on its pledge and tackle London’s housing drought September 24, 2013 HAROLD Macmillan made his reputation – and became Prime Minister – after delivering on his pledge to build 300,000 houses a year in the early 1950s. As Ed Miliband made clear yesterday, when he promised that a Labour government would ensure that 200,000 new homes were built annually by 2020, we now need similar ambition. [...]
Against the Grain: Rising bond yields – and why regulators should learn to live in the real world September 24, 2013 ARE GOVERNMENT bonds risky? The question arose this time last year, during a meeting with my bank. I wanted a low risk portfolio, but they noted that I did not want to hold UK government bonds. It was not quite clear whether it was the regulator who was insisting, or just the way my bank [...]
Energy price fixing and tax hikes would quickly see economic reality bite September 24, 2013 ED MILIBAND made two big new pledges in his speech yesterday: lower business rates for small businesses, paid for by higher corporation tax on larger firms; and a freeze in energy prices for 20 months from the date of the next election. Economic reality would quickly bite for any government that tried to introduce either [...]
Letters to the editor – 25/09 – Vanity project, Open for business, Best of Twitter September 24, 2013 Vanity project [Re: Labour’ prepared to drop support for HS2, yesterday] We already have an alternative to HS2. It is called the East Coast Main Line. With careful investment to improve pinch points at junctions and bridges, its capacity and speed could be significantly improved at a fraction of the cost of building a new line. [...]